Nursing Home Patients Protest Allowance Cut

October 31, 1991|By VALERIE FINHOLM; Courant Staff Writer

Nursing home administrators, advocates for the elderly, and residents of nursing homes Wednesday urged the state Department of Income Maintenance to restore a $12 cut in the monthly allowance for the personal needs of nursing home patients.

About 50 people attended two public hearings in Hartford on the cuts, which have been imposed on 18,000 nursing home patients to save the state $2.6 million in Medicaid money. The cutback took effect Oct. 1.

Carl Dunlap, 72, who lives at the Gladeview Health Care Center in Old Saybrook, said the cut amounts to a 28 percent reduction in "our pitiful allowance."

Dunlap said his monthly expenses include $17 for a telephone and $8 for a haircut.

"That leaves $5 a month for shoes, underwear, shirts and other necessities," he said. "The whole thing stinks."

Several nursing home administrators said the cut -- from $42 a month to $30 -- is especially hard on smokers.

"For some of these people, smoking is the only thing they're living for," said Marvin Fried, speaking on behalf of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, which represents 188 nursing homes.

Fried said he is worried that patients will steal from other patients to get money for cigarettes, or resort to begging or collecting cans on the streets to redeem for deposits.

"We don't want this; I don't think the state wants this," Fried said.

Bruce Burkhart, who said he works with elderly people, said nursing home patients are being asked to contribute an unfair amount to help the state's fiscal situation.

"A 28.5 percent decrease -- I know of no other group of persons who are being asked to make this much of a sacrifice, and this from a population segment whose real income is the lowest of any group in society to begin with."

Claudette Beaulieu, spokeswoman for the income maintenance department, the agency that administers Medicaid, agreed that cuts "certainly are not painless."

"All of our clients, the elderly in nursing homes, people on

Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and disabled people in the community, are feeling some reduction in benefits," she said.

She pointed out earlier this week that nursing home patients on Medicaid do get the essentials -- room, board, prescription medications and care. She said Connecticut had been more generous than necessary with its allowances, since the federally mandated minimum is $30.

Several speakers said Wednesday that Connecticut, with its high cost of living, should not be compared with other states.

"Connecticut is not Nebraska -- Connecticut is an expensive place to live and things cost more than in other places of the country," said Robert M. Feldman of the Connecticut Coalition on Aging.